this is the first time on this forum and am brand new to arduino, can u experts put me on the right track, l have purchaced an starters/ experimentesr pack and a rainbowduino driver board and matrix board, now what is the quickest and simplest way to learn the programming language , what books can u guys reccommend ,or sites, and were do l get the programming software, l know picaxe micrcontroller programming but l suppose that is no good to me for arduino

Don't know specifically about the rainbowduino you mention, but you're at the right site! Go to http://arduino.cc/en/Main/Software to get the software. There's tons to learn just by browsing the site (Reference and Playground recommended), and if your kit didn't come with a set of lessons, here's one set of lessons you can follow (depending on what came in your kit) http://oomlout.com/a/products/ardx/

I got my arduino uno and the MAKE: Projects Getting Started with Arduino book a week ago and I read everything in it, but when i tried to program it, it did not work. I put my LED on the board and my cable in the board and computer, but after I plugged it in the LED started to blink. I did not have my IDE open yet.

I got my arduino uno and the MAKE: Projects Getting Started with Arduino book a week ago and I read everything in it, but when i tried to program it, it did not work. I put my LED on the board and my cable in the board and computer, but after I plugged it in the LED started to blink. I did not have my IDE open yet.

Livdaws, the board starts out with a simple blink sketch that blinks the onboard (and any LEDs plugged up to the board on pin 13) just as a way to show the board is working correctly